The Tooth Fairy (2008)

A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I
will put within you; and I will remove from your
body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26

When we first see him Derek Thompson (Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson) is a once great hockey player now reduced to playing for just a few minutes per game in a minor league in Michigan. The self-ab sorbed player is sent in whenever his team is behind, his mission being to put out of commission the most aggressive of the opposing players. Because he hits his targets so hard, sending them crashing through the Plexiglas protective windows that the victims often loses a tooth, Derek has been dubbed the “Tooth Fairy.” However, his demeanor is anything but kindly, as we see when a little boy asks him to autograph his program. When Derek asks if he also wants to play major league hockey, and the boy nods affirmatively, he tells the boy, “Lower your expectations. That’s the only way you’re gonna be happy.” Later, at his girlfriend Carly’s (Ashley Judd) home, he starts to tell her little daughter Tess (Destiny Whitlock), who has just lost a tooth, that there is no Tooth Fairy, but Carly intervenes.

Derek’s behavior has not gone unnoticed by higher powers. At bedtime he discovers on his pillow a summons to the court of tooth fairies just as feathery wings sprout from his back. And he finds himself conducted to a busy hall where strangely attired tooth fairies are coming and going. Worst of all, he finds himself dressed in tights and a pink tutu. The head Tooth Fairy Lily (Julie Andrews) sentences him to a period of serving as a tooth fairy himself for having disillusioned so many children. She does bestow a measure of mercy by replacing his tutu with a costume that makes him look more like a Renaissance prince than a ballerina. As his caseworker she assigns Tracy (Stephen Merchant), a would-be tooth fairy who has given up on his dream of acquiring wings. In this respect Casey and Derek are alike, in that the latter has given up long ago on ever scoring again in a hockey game.

There is still another case of loss of self-confidence in the adolescent son of Carly, who does not believe in his musical ability, even though he plays a mean guitar. How all three get back their groove makes for mildly amusing viewing, the plot following the arc familiar to fans of Miracle on 34th Street. I wonder if this film sprang from the idea of placing the tough guy star (Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson) in the pink tutu? This is one of those films to see at a cheap seat theater or on DVD.

To see a trailer for this film click onto: http://www.moviestrailer.org/tooth-fairy-movie-trailer.html